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 Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:44 pm
o1. Rosie & Illorna
Rosie hummed softly to herself, standing outside her DM’s apartment as she brushed clods of dough and loose flour from her jeans. Her boss had asked her to work late and, being who she was, Rosie had been entirely unable to decline. She hadn’t wanted to stay, no, of course not. She’d had plans and, frankly, a pretty shitty day of pretty awful customers. Frankly, she sometimes wondered what was wither subservience. She had been miserable to stay, but even knowing this she had agreed, and she knew that she would again. It wasn’t for the money. She wasn’t sure what it was for.
Derek finally came to the door and smiled, motioning for her to join the game already progressing on the dining room table. She heard the familiar clack of dice against wood and the stress seemed to melt from her body. She smiled softly and slid into her usual seat silently, Derek returning to his own position.
“Where are we?” she asked the young man at the head of the table more than a little sheepishly. She hated being late. She felt like she was ruining everyone else’s fun, or mucking up their shared fantasy world by suddenly erasing herself from the campaign for whatever amount of time. Again, she wasn’t sure just why she felt this way, as nobody else seemed to have any qualms calling in hung-over or just plain now showing. It seemed as if this was all a game and only a game to them, whereas to her it was a release and a fantasy and some of the only social interaction she got. As of this moment, she wouldn’t have blamed them if she had been NPC-killed.
“Nightmare sequence,” came the kind-toned but rather serious response, “Arven slipped into the dream realm and doppelgangers are ripping his psyche apart. We’ve had to avoid your point ‘til now. Glad you got here.”
“No problem,” Rosie replied quietly, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. She never really thought about how she was the only girl around the table, and that perhaps the other boys would make a more logical romantic connection. Her eyes were only for the lonely DM, who seemed so cool and mysterious. He didn’t even seem to know.
“Alright, Illorna,” he said as Derek passed over the dice, using character names as he tended to. Their campaigns were much more in-character than those she’d been involved in before.
“You awaken to see your party members bickering over how to save Arven from ‘himself’.”
The men around the table actually began rambling at one another over strategy and fact, all except for Arven’s player, who seemed to be thinking deeply about something or another. Rosie felt the usual swell of pride and bravery she experienced while being Illorna, emotions that were devoid of any standing in reality. It was nice to be something you were most assuredly not.
“Children, children! Calm yourselves! What’s going on?!”
All eyes turned to her, full of possible responses, and the game began in earnest.
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:22 pm
o2. It Begins
Dear Diary,
Work sucked today. The crazy old lady and her b***h of a daughter came in again, this time complaining that the daughter’s wedding cake had been the wrong shade of blue and wanting a refund. How this was my fault in particular, I don’t know. I don’t do the cakes. Janice has been doing this for 30 years, though, I think they’re just trying to get their money back. I know for a fact they came in to see it beforehand, because that’s when I first heard of them. Anyway, the wedding was last week, so ******** them. That wasn’t all, but it was the worst, and it makes me not want to come in Monday. The boss asked me to stay late, and I did. She didn’t need me. All I did was clean. It sucked.
When I got to the game, they’d already started, and it was pretty epic. Brian was having a nightmare in the dream realm with some doppelgangers. We all had a big fight, and then finally decided to just go in after him, which I don’t think was the original plot. Jaime should have known we were idiots. We made him laugh so hard he cried today, so I guess our impending doom was somewhat worth it. We’re just hefting Brian around now, and he’s got his own little campaign thing going on in his head. Jaime made a couple of characters just so he could have someone to interact with. It took a little longer, but it’s okay. The plot should end up pretty epic.
We’re all meeting for lunch tomorrow, except without Jaime. Everyone’s so different than their characters, it makes it a lot of fun. The game used to be all we talked about, but now we’ve kind of moved on to normal human things. It makes me feel like I have friends out here in the real world, and that’s quite a bit of comfort. Apparently we’re going to some Jewish deli on the edge of town, for randomness’ sake. They wanted to come to the bakery at first, but I talked them out of that right quick. I refuse to get my only friends involved in that work s**t.
All in all, today sucked something fierce and tomorrow should be better. I went to the supermarket and bought some stuff to bring to lunch, just in case the food’s damn weird. I’m too tired to do anything just now, though. It’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:42 am
o3. The Birth
It was early afternoon when Rosie awakened and decided to start making “just in case” sandwiches. She piled sliced chicken and mustard on bread and then went to retrieve the lettuce she had purchased. Upon opening the vegetable drawer, thought, she was drawn to stop and tilt her head.
That cabbage was ******** enormous. It totally hadn’t been that big when she bought it. It had been…normal-sized just yesterday! Maybe it was some screwed-up Gaian lettuce at wouldn’t go bad or something. That wouldn’t be a bad thing!
Rosie reached down and laced her hands beneath the vegetable, planning to heft it up with the light and airy weight most cabbages had. Instead, she nearly tumbled face-first into the fridge. It was heavy and solid, good grief! She crouched and lifted with her legs like work had taught her and struggled to lift it to the counter cutting board. It rustled a bit, but she blamed that on herself.
She grasped a large side leaf in her hand and tugged. Rather than the leaf releasing, it stuck fast and refused to tear at all. Rosie blinked and stared at it. Hrm. She put a hand on the body of the cabbage and pulled harder on the leaf. Still nothing. Well, it looked like she’d have to slice this one up! The young woman removed a knife from the magnetic strip on her wall. She pressed the blade into the cabbage and tried to push down, but nothing broke. The sharp edge didn’t even leave the dark green welt of moisture she had expected at the very least. Well then. It was time to stab this goddamn thing.
Rosie lifted the knife in both hands, the glinting point glaring down at the cabbage. She lifted it up and began to bring it down with incredible force, but the knife clattered to the floor as the vegetable suddenly writhed and wriggled like a pregnant belly.
Rosie screamed.
Too much D&D made her believe that some terrible s**t was going to go down.
The leaves of the cabbage rustled softly and began to unfurl, revealing layer after layer after layer of living leaves. Rosie back against the fridge, holding herself.
The core of the cabbage was strangely-shaped, not spherical like one might expect. It wriggled and rustled, and then began to peel open. There was rough green fabric, tanned flesh, and a tiny hand reached up, followed by another. The fully clothed infant suddenly revealed by the vegetable reached up and stretched, giving a tiny-toothed little yawn.
Rosie stared in horror, and then picked up the phone.
“Ah…yeah, Derek? I…I don’t think I can make it.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 11:01 am
o4. Our First Outing
here!
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:26 am
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:07 pm
o6. An Update
Dear Diary,
I don't think I realized how normal it is for young people to have kids nowadays. There's a difference between the ones that can't keep their legs closed and the ones like me, of course, but I'm not even sure people differentiate. On one side, it's probably better for me. The last thing I need is more people staring. On the other hand, what's the world coming to? Most of the young parents I've met were good parents, don't get me wrong, but what about the ones who aren't? Babies having babies was never my favorite thing. Maybe I'm just jealous I can't get laid.
Derek brought us to lunch today, which I thought was super sweet. I don't have a babysitter, but he honestly didn't seem to mind. Adrian tried a few times to eat his fingers, but that's what you get for playing "got your nose". Thai food is glorious, and with any luck Adrian will grow up with a varied and nerdy repertoire of cravings. Apparently Derek was caught stealing water, but I really can't blame him. That place is a labor camp and nobody should have to go that long without a lunch break. It's hard to find jobs nowadays, especially as a student. I promised to ask if the bakery needs any help, but I might not after all. A promise is a promise, but why would Derek want to work in that shithole? He's not the best with people as it is, and all we get is assholes nowadays.
The game this week went well. For my first time bringing a baby (or anyone bringing a baby), it went pretty smooth. Adrian got a hold of Joe's dice once, but everyone was a good sport and he rolled such a high number that Joe begged to keep it. Jaime let it slide. He's good like that. Maybe when the little ones grows up, he'll be a nerd just like his mommy and join our campaign. Illorna will probably be dead by then, but such is D&D. We're already working on him. The word "Orc" still sounds like a bird sound coming out of him, though. In time, in time.
Work is alright, all things considered. Adrian seems intent on watching me half the time and bored out of his mind the other half. Sooner or later he'll be old enough to just let him run around. Maybe I should start packing toys. The poor kid's bound to get in all kinds of trouble if I don't keep him occupied.
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